A 30-year-old entrepreneur explains how she turned a weak moment into a driving force behind her 7-figure business

When Emily
Williams arrived in London in August of 2010, she was open to
possibility.

The only thing she knew was that she wanted to live there - she
would figure out the rest later.

Ad

"I arrived with four suitcases and a dream," she remembers. Over
the next few years, she completed her masters in nonfiction
writing at City University, racking up $30,000 in credit card
debt just to live but without a plan for what would come next.

Then, she had a breakthrough: In 2012, a friend sent her the
website for renowned entrepreneur and coach Marie Forleo.

"There were coaches around, but I thought they were men in suits
with little binders," Williams says. "Everything clicked. I'd
always wanted to help people - that's why I got into psychology -
and I also wanted this laptop lifestyle. I wanted everything I
saw Marie had, and I was totally jealous. I started to research
coaching more and more, and realized that's what I was meant to
do."

Four years later, her coaching business, I Heart My
Life, has earned seven figures in sales over the last 18
months. She's worked with over 60 one-on-one clients and helped
over 200 people through her group programs. Her husband was able
to leave his 9-5 job as a designer to join her company, and
there's a waitlist for their four-month coaching program that
costs $20,000.

Today, she doesn't have to feel jealous.

However, Williams highlights her jealousy of Forleo as a catalyst
for her own success. Since then, Williams says she's learned to
reframe any jealousy she feels as inspiration.

"If I'm ever jealous, now I know to look into whatever it is, and
research it, and take notice of what someone's doing," she says.
"That jealousy indicates it's something I want as well.
Take that feeling as inspiration and believe it's possible
for you, too. I always say I'm just a girl from Ohio with really
big dreams."

Inspiration alone isn't enough - next, you have to take action.
"What I did to fast track my success was align myself with people
who had what I want," she says. Williams went ahead and got
certified as a coach through a program run by Gina Devee, and enrolled in Forleo's B-School. "If
you're inspired by someone, figure out how they've done it and
get in their corner. Figure out what you can learn from them."

A spark of jealousy could be a sign you're on the right path, and
an indication of who can lead you there. "For a while, I was
playing that business guessing game," Williams remembers of the
days before she took action, "and I realized that was the slow
route to everything I wanted."